Pensacola Beach, Florida
February 19 – 22, 2004
You may all remember that last winter’s Gulf Games went into overtime for many people, as blizzards in the North kept a few of us gaming long after the usual Sunday end date. This year there was nothing so dramatic, but for me, at least, things began early and ended late and, with Gulf Games, that’s just like the cherry on top of the sundae.
On Wednesday, I was waiting in the Atlanta airport for the second leg of my flight to Pensacola when a fellow I didn’t recognize walked up to me and asked, “By any chance, are you going to Gulf Games?” Thinking the psychic level in Hotlanta is remarkably high, I said that I am. The stranger turned out to be Mark Engleberg, whose name I recognized, but not his face. Turns out I played a game with him at the last Gathering. Here’s a gamer I don’t want to play a memory game with! Anyway, he introduced me to his wife Mindy, we had a nice chat, and wound up sharing a cab to the hotel. It was a great beginning to a great five days.
The gaming, as usual, was wonderful and the people were even better. Probably my favorite game was Joe Huber’s deduction game The Usual Suspects (I love that title). I also thoroughly enjoyed the dice game Joe designed specifically for GG 13, Stalking the Perfect Tan. In fact, I grabbed a copy from the prize table and hope to get it played at home.
Among the published new games, my best experience was probably an epic session of A Game of Thrones, kindly taught to us by Rick Thornquist. It took a while for the mechanics to sink in, but by game’s end we were all enjoying this clever design. I also enjoyed my two games of what appears to be the final Moon/Weissblum design, Oasis. Other favorites included Die Sieben Siegel (probably the best Oh Hell variant I’ve played) and Attika (good, not great so far, but I still have a lot to learn about it). Falling into the “pretty good” category was Maya (a nice game that just seems to lack a spark), Nuggets, and Die Fugger.
Highlights among older titles included: entertaining games of Res Publica and Shark that only confirmed my feelings about the quality of those designs; a *seven* player game of Coyote (works just fine) in which my personal nemesis for the week, Warren Madden, took me down in the mano a mano finale, thanks to a “20” on my head; and my first shot at Ur, 1830 BC, patiently taught to Jeff Stephens and myself by Joe Huber (Gregwas supposed to be our fourth, but he was forced to bow out when his brain melted halfway through the rules explanation).
It sounds like a broken record, because I say the same thing after every GG, but playing games with, sharing meals with, and just hanging out with the people is so much doggone fun. Even more amazing is how wonderfully the newcomers all fit in. I’ve spent time with Rick before, so I knew he’d be an ideal GGer, but this was the first time I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Christine and she is an utter delight. Mark and Mindy did a great job representing the Great Northwest and Mindy proved to be as good a conversationalist as she is a gamer. The irrepressible Angela Gaalema showed that she’s just as comfortable in a family setting as she is in a raucous late night crowd. It was easy to forecast that Warren, everyone’s favorite weatherman, and his charming wife Sharon would be great fun. And longtime Westbank Gamer Jim Fairchild made me regret that he hadn’t been able to get to GG before this. He also blew us away with his impression of, shall we say, a major religious figure.
Greg, Vickie, Tim, and all the rest keep coming up with more great ideas that keep the festivities fresh. The decorations were wonderful and the fish worked out very well. The sand sculpting contest was an inspired idea and there were some very clever efforts. That was probably the best prize table I’ve ever seen, with some highly sought-after items lasting into the second round. Of course, the old contests are still the best ones and I thought it was funny that Jeannette, who demanded we play a game every time we ran into each other (we never did get our schedules in synch) managed to win Friendliest Kid by a wide margin without my help. Next time, Jeannette, I promise!
If you like close games, Gulf Games reached a crescendo for me as Saturday turned into Sunday. Five of us played one of my deduction games and I managed to beat out Julie Weston on the last turn only because of a bookkeeping error she made (it was a tremendous comeback on her part, since she had to start over midway through the game). This was followed by a Schnappchen Jagd contest with Joe and James in which the scores were 11-10-10. I thought I’d turn in at a reasonable hour for once, but Angela wanted to play another one of my designs again, so what could I say? Jim F. joined us. I’ve played this game several dozen times and I’m pretty sure there’s never even been a two-way tie. Would you believe this contest ended in a three-way tie? Unbelievable. I actually had to check my own rules to see if there was a tiebreaker. There was, and Angela eked out the win. It was a great ending to a great Gulf Games.
Except that wasn’t the end after all. The Mardi Gras parade caused a bunch of us to leave for the airport earlier than planned. Michael and Julie very kindly offered to drive me over.
We stopped off for lunch and met the Maddens for a most delightful meal. They then dropped me off at the airport for what might have been a long wait. But Mark and Mindy were there (things are coming full circle, aren’t they), playing Go on a travel set precariously balanced on Mindy’s lap. Soon thereafter, Earl and Michelle, a pair of newcomers I had only briefly met walked up. They were flying out on my plane! So we wandered over to a fast food joint in the airport and proceeded to play O Zoo le Mio, Coloretto, and half of a game of Bohnanza. These were all very entertaining games and Earl and Michelle are a very sweet couple who proceeded to join the long list of great Gulf Games first-timers I met last week. Sometimes overtime is a good thing, particularly when it comes to Gulf Games. I wonder what we can do to top this next time?